


Shut Up and Dance with Me

by babydraco



Series: Wildest Dreams [4]
Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Corporal Punishment, Cunnilingus, Daddy Kink, Dirty Talk, Dom/sub Play, F/M, Female Bucky Barnes, Female Tony Stark, Light Masochism, Male Natasha Romanov, Military Kink, Outdoor Sex, Period-Typical Sexism, Prom, Rule 63, Sauna, Spanking, Sub Bucky Barnes, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3890380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babydraco/pseuds/babydraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve remembers how his relationship with Jemma Barnes started.  Then their friends give them the surprise of a lifetime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of [This fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2782154/chapters/6282368) in which Steve has a somewhat kinky relationship with a comics- _esque_ teen girl!Bucky.

Bucky, Steve began to realize, was not going to be found until she wanted to be found. There was nothing he could do at this point, except continue to let her know she would be welcome if she wanted to come in from the cold. With a heavy tread, he stepped onto the common floor at the Tower, following the sounds of the tv. Toni was curled up on the couch in the living room, in grease smeared jeans and a black tank top, barefoot with her dark curls pulled back in a pony tail. She was watching Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in the original technicolor Captain America movie, a tumbler of something amber resting on her knee. 

“This pretty much how it went down, Cap?” Toni asked. 

“Well, she doesn't look much like Bucky. And that actress wouldn't last five minutes in a war zone,” Steve said. “Can she even lift her gun?” 

“She doesn't have to,” Toni explained. “They made her a nurse. I bet they didn't realize how tough nurses on the front lines had to be anyway. You think she has enough meat on her bones? I know you forties guys liked them curvy.”

“Um,” Steve said, blinking at the sudden swerve into sex talk. Toni did that a lot, maybe it was her way of testing people,or she was simply oversexed. 

“You can be honest with me,” Toni teased. “You're an ass man, right? The way Bucky Barnes filled out those little booty shorts, must've driven you crazy. Come on, I know you love a nice bubble butt. Something to grab onto.”

“I don't like locker room talk,” Steve interrupted. With what he was sure Bucky was going through at the moment, it felt disgustingly inappropriate to be thinking about her body. 

“Sorry,” Tony said. “It's habit, when you spend too much time with businessmen. They can get kinda gross, a hotbed of casual misogyny. You don't know how often I get asked to 'get us some coffee, hon,' and I have to be like 'dude, I own this company and _my eyes are up here_ ,'. So, stuff just pops out now. I figured, you were a soldier though-”

“I didn't s ay I'm not _used to it_ ,” Steve said. “I won't participate and I won't listen to that kind of talk about Bucky.”

“Oh,” Tony said. “Oh. Ohhh, okay. Seriously though, was this a romantic thing or more like a little sister thing?”

“It was a none of your business thing,” Steve replied hotly. Toni just smirked. On occasion, he really hated that smirk. 

“Everyone else thinks it's their business. Have you seen the Lana del Rey video?”

“Who?” Steve asked. Toni immediately tapped a few keys and brought up the video screen.

“She's known for a retro-vintagey sound and imagery, and kind of a mix of kitshy Americana and this weird daddy kink thing. So naturally, she's a huge Bucky Barnes fan. She did this song in 2012, oh, here it is.” Toni hit 'play'. “It got attention because it's one of the few interpretations of your story that's from Bucky's point of view, not yours.”

A slim, beautiful brunette(who looked more like the actress from the movie than she looked like the real Bucky) wearing a dress and coat reminiscent of Bucky's costume mournfully wandered various exotic European locations and lonely battle sites, singing a haunting ballad about a lonely teenage girl who'd joined the army, found herself exploited and killed in action trying to follow her lover, a decorated hero. The battlefield scenes were interspersed with shots of a stunning couple making love in a familiar looking hotel room. 

“That room,” Steve blurted out, blushing. “I was in that room. How did they-”

“It's public record that you and Barnes gave speeches at conventions. All they had to do was track down one of the hotels you spoke at, find out what the place looked like in nineteen forty whatever. Maybe you weren't that quiet.”

“But why was it so _important_ to know what my hotel room looked like?” 

“Because people think you guys were romantic,” Toni explained. “You were iconic lovers. Even more so because of the whole forbidden love aspect and your young, tragic deaths.” 

Steve was mortified. They'd kept it secret for a reason,and to find out decades later, that their secret hadn't remained one for very long after their deaths, how was he supposed to react? What must people think of him? On screen, Lana del Rey was crying a single, perfect tear while a tattered American flag waved in the background. 

“Hey,” Toni said. “Hey, Cap, no one's mad at you. Bucky's honor is totally safe. The war was like a-a- free pass for breaking the rules. Everyone gets that now.”

“Everything that happened to her after she met me, it was my fault,”Steve said. 

“Yeah, that doesn't give her a lot of agency,” Toni snorted. “She chose you. You were the last real choice she got to make as Bucky Barnes.”

“How do you know so much about this?” 

“It's easy, when my dad loved a dead girl more than he gave a damn about a live one.” Something in the set of Toni's shoulders as she turned away to pour herself a drink reminded Steve of another woman he'd known, a brown eyed, sarcastic, mischievous brunette who had raised herself, and played her anxieties close to the vest. As Toni wandered off, he sank onto the couch and allowed himself to drift into the memories.

Steve, Bucky and their team had been using an abandoned camp deep in the Scandinavian forests, he couldn't remember which country it had actually been. But he'd left the cabin after supper, walking through a moonlit clearing, and discovered an old wooden sauna placed next to a spring. Gentle splashes alerted him to the presence of another person. Bucky, pale, freckled and without a stitch of clothing on, swimming languidly. He had never seen her naked body, he stared, like a forest creature caught in the headlights of a car, and then smiled, embarrassed and tried to be a gentleman by looking away from her pink nipples, and the tuft of brown curls between her legs. Bucky took his arrival in stride, awkward and shy but not making any move to the pile of clothes on the embankment. 

Bucky waved a bundle of birch leaves and branches at him with a mischievous grin. 

“I guess you kind of whack yourself with these once you get out of the sauna,” Bucky mused. “Or you can have someone else hit you. Supposed to help with circulation.”

“Huhh.” Steve's mind was filled with a scene of wet, naked people running around in the snow, hitting each other with sticks. He wondered who had been the first to think that up and how other people had reacted. The bundle didn't look like it hurt much either way. 

“You ever thought about whacking someone? Like putting me over your knee? Teaching me a lesson?” Bucky asked. Steve blinked, startled. He _had_ thought about it, but put it aside as a ridiculous, inappropriate fantasy. One he had to suppress whenever his partner bent over in her costume. 

“I wouldn't do that unless you asked for it.”

“That was me asking,” Bucky said. Her expression said I Dare You, and Steve was never one to turn down a dare. He stripped, slowly, eyes locked on hers. Bucky's eyes grew wider, she shifted her thighs together, lips parted in a wordless moan. Steve still wasn't used to women looking at him like that, like they wanted to eat him alive. Bucky always did. Steve lowered himself in the hot water, blushing faintly because the lust in Bucky's eyes went straight to his cock. 

“You got nothing to be embarrassed about,” Bucky said. “I dunno if I can fit all that in my mouth.”

“I'm sorry,” Steve apologized on instinct. “I don't want to hurt you.”

“God, don't apologize.” Bucky let out a throaty laugh. “And didn't you just say you wanted to-”

“Right, I did.” Steve breathed out heavily. His cock twitched with interest that there was no hiding now. “You're a naughty girl, Bucky.” 

“You did,” Bucky said. “And I _am_.” She sloshed over to him, and Steve was reminded of how _buoyant_ naked women were. Bucky bit her dewy bottom lip. “You'll stop if I need you to?” 

“I'll always stop, Bucky,” Steve said. Bucky handed him the bundle of branches and nervously turned her back to him. He gently rested a hand on the small of her back to steady her, listening to her sigh, before he cracked the branches down over her bottom. Not too hard, they were playing with sensations, not punishment, but enough to register and make her gasp. 

“Uhh,” Bucky moaned. Every gasp and moan made his cock harder, it was almost as much about her obvious excitement as it was his need to take her in hand and show her that someone cared, _he_ cared. Bucky's breath picked up, she struggled to turn around in his arms, and started to kiss him frantically as she ground her pussy against his thigh. 

“You sure?” Steve managed to get out. “Have you- before?”

“Sort of,” Bucky blurted. This was not how Steve had pictured officially deflowering anyone, let alone someone for whom he was responsible. He was in way over his head, he needed to put on the brakes. 

“I don't want to rush you. This isn't a nice place to-”

“There's never gonna be a nice place to fuck,” Bucky said. She wrapped her small hand around his hot length, stroking firmly. Oh god. 

“I should wear a condom,” Steve protested. Bucky wrapped her thighs around his waist. 

“Can't get pregnant in water,” She said. 

“I uh, I don't think that's true,” Steve groaned. 

“Then I don't care anyways,” Bucky said. “I don't wanna die without knowing what it feels like, being with you.” It was teenage drama, he should have dismissed it and refused her advances. 

“I want to touch you too,” Steve said. “Bucky, I do. And I'll use my fingers.” At Bucky's whine of disappointment he cupped her pointy little chin in his hand and made her look at him. “Hey. We'll go all the way when I get my hands on a condom. And on one other condition.” Bucky's eyes widened hopefully. “I want you to obey me. I want to be in charge. More in charge than I am when we're not naked. If that's not what you want, that's okay too but I really liked the game we just played.” 

“I want that,” Bucky said eagerly. “I understand. I'd rather be your partner everywhere else and...play it differently in bed. Please, touch me now?”

He held her up with one strong arm while he used his hand to learn her body, following her gasps and moans to the places she wanted to be touched. She started whimpering when his fingers brushed a certain bundle of nerves, he returned to it again and again, until she nearly sobbed, begging him not to stop. Her thighs tensed around his waist as she soaked his fingers and cried out helplessly. It was enough to make Steve come completely untouched.


	2. Chapter 2

_Bucky threw herself down on one of the creaky cots they'd appropriated, she buried her face in her folded up jacket and let out a modified shriek of happiness. Toro rolled over, and blinked sleepily._

_“Wharyewyellin' about?”_

_“I haven't had a bath in a million years, right?” Bucky said. “So I found this pond, I took off my clothes and that was nice enough, getting clean for once. But Steve, I guess was doing perimeter checks and he saw me.”_

_“Oh no!” Toro gasped._

_“Oh yes!” Bucky said. “He was sooo embarrassed. But I make the most of things, you know that. I got him in the water with me. Toro, we did stuff.”_

_“You had sex? Did it, um, hurt?” They both stopped to consider Steve's size even when flaccid._

_“Not really. I mean, we didn't get that far. He doesn't want to get me knocked up and we didn't have a condom. We finger banged though. He's amazing, he touched me like no guy's ever touched me before.”_

_“No one does touch me,”Toro complained, “so I can't compare.”_

_“Well, when Steve and me do it, I'll tell you all about how it feels so you'll know what to do when you finally get a girl,” Bucky said._

_“And he didn't hurt you on accident?”_

_“He's this guy...” Bucky said dreamily, “all built for violence, but he treats me like a...he's so gentle with me. He's like that with anyone he doesn't have to fight, which I love but he treats me like he thinks I'm special, and I deserve good things. But not in a way that makes me feel weak and useless either.”_

_“Like he wouldn't treat you no different if you were a boy,” Toro supplied._

_“Yeah. He lets me be strong, and then I stop worrying about needing to be, because he's on my six.”_

_“Wow,” Toro said._

_“Wow,” Bucky agreed giddily._

“Bucky?” Steve tapped on the bathroom door again. “You okay?” 

Bucky finished tying her hair back and opened the door.

“What.”

“I uh, I need to get in there,” Steve said. Well, at least it wasn't because he thought she was trying to hurt herself or that she didn't understand how the hair dryer worked. She'd been on her own for months after escaping Hydra and before he found her, and she had been around, off and on, during his Very Long Nap in the Ice. Not remembering who you are, is not the same thing as being confused by common household appliances that have existed for decades. 

“Next time, just come in, babe,” Bucky said, brushing past him. There was no flirty tone, and no deliberate sway in her walk. She didn't deserve Steve anymore, so she wasn't going to make herself available. She made a point not to notice his sad puppy face. The Sad Puppy Face was almost as effective as the You've Got a Spanking Coming face. Well, that was an unexpected memory. Her breath hitched, she paused in her walk towards the closet. There was another thing she couldn't have if she didn't want him to touch her. Bucky made herself put one foot in front of the other, and walk to the closet, where she changed into black jeggings, a t shirt and a pair of little heeled boots . She heard the toilet flush and the door click open. Steve was watching her. 

“Like what you see?” she joked.

“Yeah. Always. I love this new modern look. With the-” he vaguely waved his hands in curvy motions. “Tight pants.” 

“Well, I love how you keep buying your shirts a size too small,” Bucky retorted with a smirk. She pulled on a zip front hooded sweatshirt to withdraw her permission for him to look at her anymore. “I gotta go. Meeting Nate for lunch.”

“Right.Sorry.” 

It hurt,it did, watching his hope fade. Steve wanted to see the best in her, he wanted his fiancee back, and everything left in her was rotten and wrong.

She met up with Nate down at a hole in the wall cafe in Brighton Beach, where they could get a taste of the old country. Bucky related the story about how Sharon Carter had walked in on her in the kitchen while she'd been making lunch for Steve. She'd received a passive aggressive scolding about waiting on men. It wasn't the first time the women in their social circle had reacted that way, and it was funny because Steve didn't want her to wait on him either. He liked to pamper her.

“I _thought_ ,” Bucky said, “ Feminism was about my right to make my own choices. And respecting that I'm smart enough to know what I want.”

“Well, I think it is,” Nate said. “I'm a guy, so take that with a grain of salt, but that's how I understand it.” 

“People already act like female superheroes can't have _boyfriends_ or they're giving up their power. But I remember what happened when I got caught with _you_.” She frowned and Nate nodded. He remembered too. He patted her hand where it rested on the table. “When I was lost, being with you was something to hold onto in the middle of Hell. And now, having a boyfriend is me proving that I can be a person and I can have attachments. Love and be loved. The Red Room and Hydra can't take that away from me ever again. And I have these people who just assume that because I was born in 1925, I need a lesson in women's rights.”

“Because strong women don't need a man and power is the only important thing?” Nate said. “Emotional connections slow you down and make you vulnerable, which is a weakness and weak people aren't valuable. Great attitude for superheroes to have.” 

“I don't _need_ , I _want_ ," Bucky said. "Steve, he- treats me like an equal. He doesn't pull rank on me any more often than he does with anyone else. He gives _you_ orders in the field and you follow them. Why is that different? Do people not understand that I wasn't just a teen cupcake in an awkwardly suggestive costume, I was a real soldier just like Steve? I made Sergeant at 19. The last skirt I put on as Bucky Barnes was my army uniform. These girls, I was fighting in war zones before their parents were born.”

“Grandparents,” Nate corrected. “The Baby Boomers are grandparents.” 

“ _Oh my god_.” Bucky sighed and stared down at her donut. “But, you know, in our generation, women weren't supposed to get their hands dirty. If a woman had to get her hands dirty, it meant the man wasn't doing his job. That's stupid, women still had to get their hands dirty all the time and all thinking like that gets you is controlling men and helpless, unhappy women. But by the time I met Steve,my hands were already so dirty they're never gonna get clean. Who are people with soft hands and pretty dresses to tell me I can't want someone to take care of me?” 

_Until I met Steve, I hadn't been someone's baby girl since **never**_ Bucky thought. _Since my mom died and I had to step up and take care of the house and Bobby_. The first feeling that had flooded through her body when Steve asked her to obey him had been _relief_ that she didn't have to carry it all alone anymore. 

“You can be strong and still want to be taken care of sometimes. You've always been self sufficient, you don't have to prove that to anyone,” Nate said. He sipped his Russian style coffee thoughtfully. “Jemma, you've been telling all of this to me, and I love that you're sharing your feelings for once, but have you ever thought about telling Steve?”

After lunch and a pleasant walk around the neighborhood, Bucky left Nate and went home, to lie on her bed and stare at the ceiling. This was her time to search her newly reacquired memories, this time for something good, something comforting.

_“Let me walk you back to your tent,” Steve insisted. It was late and dark and the autumn bugs were clustering around the light fixtures when the USO sponsored film started to roll credits. Bucky had purposely waited for him to pass by, wanting him to walk back with her but not wanting to ask him to do so because she shouldn't have needed a protective escort but it was smart to have one anyway. If he wanted something in return, she was more than glad to give it to him. In fact, her body ached for the chance. So she'd waited for him in the shadows, trying to be all slinky like Lauren Bacall, blowing smoke from her cigarette in what she hoped was a sexy way._

_“I don't need help,” she drawled._

_“I wouldn't feel right,” Steve said. They fell into step. She knew that if she actually told him no, he'd leave her alone, but she didn't want to make him go away. What she wanted, was to invite him into her tent for the night, but she had to be careful about things like that. Bucky didn't want to get the same reputation she'd had at Lehigh. Not when she was being taken seriously for once._

_“We're getting two weeks leave next month,” Steve said. “To speak at a conference in D.C.”_

_“We can be together,” Bucky murmured. “In a real bed. And do-”_

_“New things,” Steve finished. He lowered his voice, brushing his lips against her ear. “I could bind your wrists while I take you like we both want.”_

_“Nnnnhhh,” Bucky managed._ _When they reached the section of tents where the few women in camp were quartered (other than Bucky they were mostly secretaries and nurses). Steve took a small object from his pocket and placed it in her hand. It was a little silver whistle on a chain._

_“I know you know how to take care of yourself. But if anyone tries to hurt you, I want you to blow on this.” Steve helped her fasten the chain around her throat._

_“Captain- I-” Why did he care so much? No one else did._

_“You know how to whistle, don't you?” Steve said, quoting the movie they'd just seen._

_“You just put your lips together...and blow,” Bucky replied. She rose on her tip toes to initiate a lingering kiss, one of his broad hands slid down her back to gently squeeze her ass. Steve picked her up as they kissed, and carried her into the dark behind her tent, where he placed her back on her feet. Words were caught in a lump in her throat as he sank to his knees in the grass. Her face was hot in the dark when she realized what he planned to do. He kissed his way up her bare thighs._

_“Thank you so much, for letting me walk with you,” he said. She felt his lips, kissing her through her underpants, studying her with his tongue. She reached behind her, hooking fingers through the rings of the metal perimeter fence and shuddered blissfully. He made a “mmm” noise as he shifted her underwear aside to put his mouth directly on her slit, and part the lips, his tongue danced over her pussy while she whimpered above him, dripping wetness. She didn't last long, not when he kept up those steady, insistent movements, she bit her lip to keep from wailing out loud._

_  
_

_Shakily, Bucky offered him the handkerchief she stored between her breasts._

_“You can keep that, Sir.”_

_He gave her another quick kiss on the mouth._

_  
_

_“I'll see you tomorrow, ma'am.”_  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toro's gender is whatever you imagine. Bucky is somewhere between 16 and 19, whatever makes you comfortable. 
> 
> Bucky's flashbacks take place before chapter 2 of the fic "It Felt Right". 
> 
> The movie they quote is [ "To Have and Have Not"](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037382/)
> 
> Bucky was a WAC (Women's Auxiliary Army Corp) but reached the front lines of the war by also functioning as Steve's partner in superheroing/propaganda because she secretly underwent the same special ops training as 616 Bucky. 
> 
> Bucky and Natasha's conversation takes place almost entirely in Russian.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm not great at predicting how long my stories are going to be.*Next* chapter will be the final one.

_  
“Uhhh!” Bucky moaned loudly, making sure to pitch her noises just right so Steve could hear them through the shared wall of their five star D.C hotel rooms. She knew he could hear her, she'd heard his shower running a few minutes earlier. “UHHHH!” She slid her fingers in and out, writhing on the silk sheets, building the pace and the tension. She was getting close so close, when she heard the clearly irritated knock on the door to her room. Bucky quickly threw on her slip and stumbled to the door, opening it to see Steve standing there in his bathrobe and pajamas._

_He was staring at her nipples, which were pointy and stood out beneath the thin, white material. Bucky stood up straighter, sticking her chest out a little more. She was still flushed with arousal and breathing oddly. He blushed. She remembered how far the blush typically spread over his pale Irish skin._

_“It's lights out, Soldier,” he said. “Big day tomorrow. Get some sleep.”_

_“But I'm not _sleepy_ ,” Bucky purred. She wanted him stay, and help tire her out. She unconsciously rubbed her wet thighs together, studying the slight bulge in his pants. _

_“Bucky,” Steve said in a soft, warning tone. “Be in the lobby by 0900. Don't forget the red folder with my speech notes.”_

_She sighed after him as he closed the door and left her alone again. That was not how it was supposed to go and really, really ruined the mood. He was supposed to be unable to resist her, and take her right there on the bed, and call her "darling" or "honey" and give her something of his to wear._

_Bucky overslept by a hair. She hurried through the Statler Hotel to the rendezvous point as fast as a person is able to move in high heels through a crowded military convention in a fancy hotel. She even broke into a run, when she thought no one was looking. Steve looked pretty irritated and Bucky felt like crap. She'd wanted so badly to please him, to make up for last night's mistake. Steve just started walking, making Bucky struggle to keep up with his long strides. They entered one of the medium sized function rooms, which would soon fill up with the top military leaders and defense contractors._

_“Okay, I just need those speech notes.”_

_“I uh I-” Bucky cringed. Dammit! “I forgot them.”_

_“Then run back to your room and get them,” Steve said._

_“I don't think, um, that I packed them at all,” Bucky babbled. “I was in a hurry, and there was a lot going on, okay and I'm not a secretary!”_

_Steve looked like he was going to cry, with his eyes all big, blue and sad, the classic Captain America is Disappointed in You face. Bucky was crushed. She hated to fail, and she especially hated to fail Steve. His good opinion was everything to her, no matter how many chores she already had on her plate._

_“You're useless here. You're dismissed, Corporal, go get yourself some breakfast,” he said. “And straighten your stockings and redo your tie.” He strode away. Bucky didn't see him again until after lunch. She spent the morning listening in on workshops. She watched Howard Stark's demonstration of his new guns, and he actually picked her out of the audience to try it. Stark stood very close while he showed her how to fire it. Bucky giggled, pretended to fumble just slightly in order to get him to reposition her. And then she fired a round of perfect dead shots. While the audience applauded her skill and Stark's brilliant mind, his hand migrated to the small of her back._

_“Feel like sticking around for the next demo? Drinks on me at Harvey's, if you're a good girl.”_

_He was as handsome as Clark Gable and she'd had fun flirting but she had the feeling when he said 'good girl' he meant the exact opposite. And even though Steve had lost his patience with her that morning, she didn't want to hurt him that way._

_“I don't really have the time, but thanks for the offer,” Bucky said sweetly. Steve approached through the crowd, his brows knitted together unhappily at the sight of her standing next to the notorious playboy._

_“No problem,” Stark laughed._

_“Stark! How are ya?” Steve asked._

_“Miss Barnes just turned me down for a date,” Stark said. He made a pouty face at her. Bucky smirked._

_“ **Corporal** Barnes is here to work,” Steve replied. “There's a meeting I need a second pair of eyes at.” _

_A chance to redeem herself. Steve explained as they walked that he'd been told one of the men in the meeting might be a spy for Germany, but nobody in the SSR was sure which man it was. He wanted Bucky to observe the men. The meeting took place in a smaller conference room, Bucky was the only woman there, surrounded by top military representatives and men in business suits. So naturally it took less than two minutes for a middle aged man whose name tag labeled him as “Senator Ward” to ask her for food._

_“I'm not a waitress,” Bucky said. “Or your mother. I'm here to take notes for Captain Rogers.”_

_“But you're already getting coffee,” he persisted. “They can't expect us to serve ourselves.”_

_“Corporal Barnes will be taking notes,” Steve said. “For me. She's not wearing that uniform for decoration.”_

_“Here's your coffee, sir.” Bucky turned and handed Steve his coffee, ignoring the Senator since he didn't seem to be able to hear her speak anyway._

_“Thank you, Corporal. We're about to get started, find your seat.” As Bucky was walking away, she heard Senator Ward mutter._

_“It's not like these women are real soldiers. Just a sexy gimmick to boost morale.”_

_“The women's corp exists to take over non combative jobs in order to free men up for the front lines,” Steve snapped. “Their job is not to serve you snacks.”_

_“God,” Senator Ward said. “Are you already fucking her or do you just want to?”_

_Bucky's heartbeat sped up anxiously. She was suddenly uncomfortably aware of being very young, very small, and very much the only woman in the room. She chose a seat near the exit and spent the meeting being quiet, trying to fade into the background. She wasn't normally one to get nervous so easily but the Senator's comments had spooked and shaken her. She spent the meeting dutifully taking notes for Steve, while keeping her eye on the “journalist” whose bag made faint but suspicious whirring noises. The sign on the door to the room had specifically forbidden all recording devices. Bucky kicked his bag over when she stood to refill her own coffee._

_“OH! I'm so sorry, did I damage your RECORDER?”_

_He was up and out the door in a flash. Bucky followed without hesitation. She chased him through the Statler lobby, kicking off her shoes so she could run faster._

_“Get outta the way!” she yelled, pushing past people. “He's a spy! Someone stop him!” He was almost to the front door. Other soldiers were running toward him now too, she heard weapons cocking. Bucky put on a burst of speed and reached him, she hauled back and punched him hard enough to make him go down._

_“Decorative, huh?” Bucky sat on him until hotel security and the cops arrived._

_“I found your shoes,” Steve said. He steadied her while she slipped back into them. “Let me take you out for dinner. We can talk about what happened today. Where would you like to eat?”_

_“Howard Stark was going to take me to Harvey's.”_

_“I don't have Stark's budget, tone it down a little.” They ended up at a little Chinese cafe, where the crowds weren't too bad and the prices were reasonable._

_“I'm so proud of you for catching the spy,” Steve said over fried rice and steamed vegetables. The chopsticks were cutely awkward in his large hands and it was clear he'd never used them before._

_“And I'm proud of you for not knocking Ward's teeth out,” Bucky said. “I don't need anyone to do that for me.”_

_“I know. I do know that. He shouldn't insult people who are fighting so he doesn't have to, and I can't help it, I like protecting you.”_

_“Why?” Bucky asked. Steve was generally chivalrous, it was his job and he was a good man. A great man. But why did Bucky being threatened get him so riled up?_

_“Because I care about you more than I've ever cared about a woman other than my mother,” Steve said softly. “You're special to me, Buck. And I don't think people in your life have tried hard enough to take care of you.”_

_“But I let you down.” She wet her lips. “Before.”_

_“Would you feel better if I punished you?” He asked gently. “I don't mean as your Captain, with extra KP when we get home. I mean the way you asked me to.”_

_Bucky nodded, flushed with shame at admitting it. This wouldn't be a silly foreplay game, where she got away with a few playful slaps. She was going to get exactly what she'd been asking for since she'd met him. Bucky was both excited and afraid, and in a sense, this was both punishment and reward._

_“Ask me for it,” Steve said. “Nice and formal, please.”_

_“Captain Rogers, sir, will you please discipline me for my mistake today?”_

_“And how do you want me to punish you, Corporal Barnes? Do you need me to spank you?”_

_Bucky swallowed hard. Just those words, coming from him, got her wet._

_“Yes, sir. Please. I need it.”_

_“Then I think you're done eating. Stand up and come with me.” Steve paid the bill (there was no question about going Dutch treat) and he led her back to the hotel and their rooms, not touching her but with his hand hovering near her back. He flipped on the light his bathroom._

_“Give me your tie. Then pull up your skirt and drop your underpants.” Bucky did as she was told, quickly and quietly._

_“Put your hands behind your back.”_

_“I can't do both?” Bucky ventured. Steve sighed, and he tucked a portion of her skirt under her waistband before taking her wrists, pinning them at the small of her back and securing them with the tie. She was now helpless, with her panties around her ankles, bare ass framed by her garters. He bent her foreward, face down on his bathroom countertop, making her even more exposed and precariously positioned. He stroked his big hand over her skin before bringing it down in a light smack. The first few were light but sharp, a warmup. She'd never asked if he'd done this before but he knew enough to not just start walloping away and that was good news. But even his warmup hurt. Steve paused to gently massage her bottom._

_“You've been a very bad girl,” he murmured. He squeezed her cheeks, jiggled them a little before releasing each one and patting it lightly._

_“I know,” Bucky breathed. He didn't give her time to anticipate it when he started again, turning up the heat unexpectedly. It was a deeper pain, he didn't hold back as much and it went straight to her clit. Her bottom bounced with the impact, he was striking upwards from the lower part of her cheeks on purpose, she was sure, just to watch it happen. The whole world seemed to be concentrated in her ass, it was all just heat and pain turning to pleasure. Making everything right again._

_She felt the cold countertop where her breasts and belly pressed against it. She could see her own big brown eyes and freckled face in the mirror. Her mouth hung open like a fish, she looked so stupid like that._

_“You're so beautiful,” Steve said. His hard cock pressed in between her ass cheeks, he rubbed it over her slit. Why wouldn't he just put it in her? Bucky moaned so loudly Steve clapped his palm over her mouth._

_“Shh, baby girl.”_

_Bucky wiggled her hips in a motion that deliberately rutted against his erection._

_“You-you gotta stop that,” Steve gasped._

_“You stop first,” Bucky said, voice muffled by his hand. “ _Daddy_ ”. Steve backed away like he'd been burnt. Bucky turned around to watch him (wriggling out of the tie binding her hands), so horny she could barely stand. He lifted her, hands on her waist, and placed her on the counter. Bucky nodded her consent, pretending not to be at all scared, pulling her knees up toward her chest. She was open, and wet, ready to receive him. He was careful when he pushed into her, and kissed her to distract her but Bucky's body wanted him so badly it offered little resistance. Steve moved inside her, holding back too much, until Bucky kicked him gently in the kidney to remind him she wasn't made of glass. Bucky covered her own mouth this time, the other hand scoring marks in his shoulder with her nails. _

_After, he cleaned them both with towels soaked in warm water. Then he gave her a piggy back ride to the bed, where he dropped her giggling, onto the luxurious mattress. Bucky stretched her arms above her head, and smiled up at the ceiling, considering the pleasant ache between her legs and the heat lingering in her ass. Steve had done that. He was saying something to her._

_“Hungry?”_

_“Huh? Yes please.”_

_“As part of your punishment,” Steve said. “I'm ordering ice cream from room service and I'm making you eat it.”_

_“Oh no!” Bucky mock wailed. She struck a dramatic fake fainting pose. “Please, not with nuts and bananas and warm chocolate sauce, I'll do anything!”_

_When the ice cream came, they ate it sitting on the bed, two spoons out of one bowl. Sometimes, she'd let drops of it spill on her skin and Steve would lick it off. The licking devolved into a giggly play fight, which Steve let her win. But like all good things in Bucky's life, it didn't last. She fell asleep, Steve woke her up a couple of hours later, he didn't look happy any more._

_“Bucky, I think you need to go back to your own room now.”_

_“Why?” Bucky demanded. She made no move to put any of her clothes back on._

_“It wouldn't look good,” Steve said. “We might not be able to-to do this again at all. I thought about what the Senator said, and I -”_

_“You won't fuck me again.”She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from leaking out. It was weak, and embarrassing. He didn't want her anymore and suddenly that was a little hard to take. Much harder to take than ass slapping._

_“I don't want to see you lose a promising army career. Even if you don't get pregnant, we could get in trouble for fraternization. I shouldn't have let it get as far as I did.”_

_“What does it matter anyways?” Bucky mumbled. She was losing the battle with her tears. “If we win the war, they'll give me a desk job and you'll be out there and I won't have your back.”_

_“I'm your Captain,” Steve said. He brushed her tears away. “I promise I won't let that happen. Anyway, you can come work with me in the SSR. You girls are doing so well taking over for us outside combat, you're really proving yourselves and I know it's going to change things for you. Who knows, you could be a test case. Because I don't wanna be out there without you at my back either. ”_

_Steve's resolve not to touch her crumbled by the next mission they were sent on alone._

__

As if sensing it wasn't a good idea to let him have too much time alone, Toni and Nate had reinstated their habit of showing up to train with Steve in Tony's state of the art gym. He found himself doing something he'd never thought he would, venting his problems to them. 

“We're engaged, right? She said she still wanted to marry me. But the physical part, it's not happening. I know she needs time, I've never pressured her and I won't start now. But-” His fist went through the covering of the punching bag, spilling filler on the floor. 

“You're so horny you think you're gonna explode,” Toni supplied. “That is the third punching bag you've broken this week. Maybe you need to go a couple rounds with one of us.” 

“Toni, I don't think sparring would be safe right now.”

“I didn't say anything about sparring, Captain Hottie.” She frowned at his glare. “Just kidding? Sort of? I think? Pepper let me put you on on my Cheat list-that's a thing, I get to make a fantasy cheat list and -Do you do guys? Because Nate is single.”

“Not single,” Nate said as he did one armed push ups from a headstand. 

“Oooh, do we know her? Him?” Toni gasped. 

“Yes.”

“But I'm wondering if there's something, uh, emotional? I'm missing?” Steve said. “About her trauma?”

“She said something bitter about pretty dresses,” Nate admitted. “And not feeling feminine?”

“She's mad at me because I haven't bought her any dresses?” Steve could not deny being a little confused, but if that's what Bucky wanted, Bucky could have it. 

“Well, I wouldn't say it's you she's angry at. It's more of a generalized anger, of a motherless kid growing up in a hyper masculine world, childhood cut short, autonomy taken away, and now people are judging her on the choices she makes because they don't understand that any choices, at all, are a freedom she hasn't had in seventy years. But yes, Steve, she's 'mad at you for not buying her any dresses.” 

“Hey,” Steve said. “I'm allowed to be confused too. Bucky's not exactly Miss Share Your Feelings.”

“She tells me stuff all the time,” Nate said. 

“Huh. Me too,” said Toni. “Guess it's literally just you she doesn't want to communicate with.”

“Then I...don't know any other way to show her she's safe and I care about her.” 

"Well, she can't keep wearing the same two pairs of jeans forever," Nate admitted. 

By the next afternoon, Toni had helped him fill Bucky's closet with an entirely new designer wardrobe, not just dresses but also new jeans, tops, coats, shoes, lingerie and swimsuits. 

“Well, it's _interesting_ ,” Steve said of the swimsuit, which was half skimpy bikini bottom, but with a separate tank style top. Toni had picked out four, one black, one white, one in a blue and white gingham pattern, and a silver sparkly version ('for parties' apparently, and Toni did throw a lot of fancy pool parties). 

“I figured you want her covered up, I also figure she's not one for modesty, so this seemed like a good compromise because I really do not like listening to Mom and Dad fight,” Toni explained. “It's a tankini! You know, because you're old and I draw the line at those suits with the little skirt attached.”

“ _Stop saying that_ ,” Steve said. “Okay, so I bought her a ridiculously expensive party dress. Now what do I do with it?” 

“Have you taken some time out to make her feel special? Get romantic at her own pace? 'Cause I think that's what she's upset about. Cinderella never got to go to the ball. Not sure if there are any formal events coming up. But we can create one.” Toni was starting to sound very excited, she was almost vibrating. “Bucky dropped out of high school, right? Listen, Captain Crunch, here's what's gonna happen.”


	4. Chapter 4

_“You disobeyed my orders- _our_ orders, went in without backup, endangered our whole unit, nearly died! We- I – almost lost you!” Steve, Jim, and Namor had pulled Bucky and Toro out of a Hydra base in the French Alps. They'd been held captive for three days in a freezing hellhole and had to be evacuated by secret air transport. Steve had been holding back until Bucky was pronounced okay before giving in to the urge to yell. He ran out of self control as they were waiting at an English airfield for their train to a countryside base. _

_“Am I gonna get it?” Bucky asked nervously. She still wore her costume, although it was torn in places and both she and it, were still dirty._

_“We're having _rump roast_ for dinner tonight,” Steve said. “Go wait in your quarters on the train until we have a chance to discuss this.”_

_Onboard the train, Steve took his time, waited to calm down (although he wasn't sure he could ever calm down from the thought of losing Bucky). Bucky was sharing a private sleeper car with Agent Carter at the far end of the sleeper section of the train. The compartments next door seemed empty, and he had pulled Carter aside and asked her to give him and Bucky a couple of hours of privacy._

_He locked the door to Bucky's car before taking her by the hand and leading her to stand in front of him. He sat on the small bed, tugging her close by the wrist._

_“Over. Now.”_

"I didn't _mean_ to get captured," Bucky insisted, face all scrunched up in a nervous pout. "We were supposed to get in and out without being seen, because um we're both kinda small -" 

"Of course you didn't _mean_ to get captured,you never do, it's a reckless disregard for yourself and it jeopardizes the rest of the mission and I'm not putting up with it."

_She lay across his knees with a miserable sigh, her perfect round bottom perfectly displayed and positioned in those delectable little blue shorts. Which unceremoniously came down, along with her torn red tights and panties, after a brief, light series of warmup smacks. No matter how easy he was on her, her skin always pinked and heated up quickly._

_“Keep quiet, that's an order, Soldier,” Steve said. He poured all his fear over her safety into the chastisement, with slaps that intended to punish, not tease or arouse. Bucky gamefully tried to smother her cries by biting into a pillow, although the train was noisy enough to dampen them. They were both sweating and Bucky was wriggling too much, like she wanted to throw herself off his lap. Steve wasn't in the mood to find it cute. It was so cute._

_“Oh, we're not done,” he said. He angled her hips so her rear faced the room and pushed her thighs further apart, completely exposing her pussy. He smacked up her thighs, and then Bucky's eyes flew open in shock as he spread her cheeks and spanked the pale, untouched inner sides. She threw her head back and wept heartbreaking tears._

_“I'm sorry!”_

_“I know, babygirl, I know, you'll get better.”_

_“But I'm sorry now!”_

_“I know. You made a mistake. Bucky, you don't need to prove how brave you are, I already know. If you want to stay on my team you have to learn to listen, and follow directions. I can't lose you because you decided to rush in and do something stupid. Love you too much.”_

_Enough. She'd learned her lesson, and he noticed that her hips were subtly trying to shift along with a slight twitching of the wet, intimate place that was now bared to him. He swatted her there, and was rewarded with a loud moan. He did again twice, and heard her gasp “Fuck!”_

_“Watch your language.”_

_“Oh, kiss my ass, Captain!”_

_Steve swatted her one more time, then bent down and planted two enthusiastic kisses on her swollen cheeks._

_“I'm not supposed to give _you_ orders,” Bucky giggled , recovering quickly from her tears. _

_“You can have whatever you want,” Steve murmured. He gathered up a few cubes from the ice bucket in his handkerchief and pressed them carefully to Bucky's skin. He stroked her back as she let out a small,surprised hiss. “I'm your sex slave.”_

_“Then you can marry me,” Bucky said imperiously. “I'll be yours and you'll be mine. I can be a good wife.” She began lazily rubbing her clit, he leaned back to watch her little hands go to work. He thought it was adorable, the way she couldn't wait for him to provide all of the pleasure, and she was always so eager to get started on her own. She was a girl who knew what she wanted and he loved that. Although one of these days, he wanted to make her wait, deny her until she begged and then make her come on command. He tugged his costume pants down enough to pull out his half hard cock. All of her wet, pink holes were on display, his cock strained toward them like she was magnetic north and he fantasized about shooting off all over her red ass._

_“I know you can, Bucky. But I thought you wanted to be a soldier.”_

_“Oh,” Bucky panted. “If they found out, we couldn't work together any more.”_

_“Not the way we do now. When you think of being a good wife, you think about fighting at my side. When they think of wives, they think about a woman in an apron, cooking dinner and reading my censored letters from the front. Not that there's anything bad about that-”_

_“I'd be-UH- bored in _five minutes_ ,” Bucky said. “You wouldn't even be around, so I'd never get my spankings and my Steve orgasms.”_

_“That sounds like torture for both of us,” Steve replied. “But-”_

_“But what?” Bucky asked, wiggling hers at him, not having once stopped the movement of her fingers in her slit. The sight made him hard enough to pound nails, he couldn't hold back any longer._

_“I would love to be your husband either way,” Steve said. “Whatever you really want to do. Maybe we just don't tell anyone til the war's over.”_

_Bucky squeaked. Steve took her right wrist, he pinned it to the small of her back as he rose up on his knees and took her from behind. She kept rubbing away, building to her climax, nearly crying with the mixture of pain and pleasure._

_“So how about it?” Steve growled in her ear as he pounded her with everything he had. “Mrs. Rogers?”_

_“Yes! Please, yes!” Bucky squealed.  
_

He had lost her before they'd had a chance to do more than order a pair of modest rings from a London jeweler. Because they hadn't been able to get to a Justice of the Peace, her memorial listed her as Jemma Barnes, not Rogers (or Barnes-Rogers). 

Bucky came out of the bathroom while he was watching tv on the couch. She was wearing one of the new lingerie outfits he'd bought with Toni's help (and later, help from other people who disparaged Toni's taste). It was a light blue silk camisole and matching panties which he had been told were called “boy shorts” style. He'd thought that sounded good, because Bucky was kind of the sporty type. Both the shorts and top had a bit of antiqued lace trim. Her hair was wet from the shower, even in the brief time they'd been back together he had noticed she never blow dried it. She wasn't wearing a bra, he could see the shapes of her breasts, a little bigger than the last time he'd seen her like this, and the room was a little chilly. 

“You found the clothes,” he said. Bucky joined him on the couch, fiddling with her hands in her lap. Someone had helped her paint her right hand nails and both sets of toenails a coral pink. 

“You put them in my closet, of course I found them,” Bucky said. She shot him a shy smirk. “Thanks.”

“I just want you to have everything you need, and – good things you don't need but maybe you want. I asked Toni for help. Or, well, I didn't ask, she forced her help on me. Then I talked to some other people and they said to go to Modcloth, 'where young women shop to dress like old women' and... I guess that's the fashion now. Toni was actually sort of wrong. Which makes sense, she's in her forties, how would she know what girls your age like?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Especially about the swim suits? So -uh- you can return any of this you want, and pick out stuff you like more.”

Bucky just blinked at him. Right. That was a lot of babbling. 

“Do you like this?” She gestured at herself. 

“Of course I do. You're gorgeous in anything. But the idea, Bucky, is do _you_ like it?”

'Yeah...I...it's all so pretty and expensive. Why would you-do that-for me?”Bucky asked. 

“I love you.”

“Does this mean- does this mean you want -?” she asked. 

“I want what you're comfortable with,” Steve said. “What you're ready for. You get what _you_ need, it's not a tradeoff, except that taking care of you is something _I_ need to do.”

She didn't reply and he didn't press, just went back to watching tv. But halfway through the show, she wriggled over into his lap. When she started to doze off, she let him carry her to her room, and kiss her forehead before he tucked her in and left. 

Keeping a surprise a secret from a former spy was easier than Steve had expected. Probably because Bucky felt so bad about herself she never suspected the mysterious deliveries and secretive phone calls would ever have anything to do with her. Steve thought he did a good job hiding his non surprise when she came back from her Pepper sponsored salon trip with a bag of beauty products, and disappeared into her bathroom for three hours. He used that time to shower himself, shave and get into his tuxedo. 

Bucky knocked on his door.

“Yeah?” Steve opened it to find her standing in the hallway, barefoot in a bathrobe, with her hair under a towel. She held a garment bag and she had a confused smirk. 

“You bought me a dress.”

“I bought you maybe five dresses,” Steve said, playing along. At least one of each of the most popular styles of day dress. 

“You bought me a _fancy_ dress,” Bucky said. 

“Yes, I did.” It was a black silk, knee length, 1950s style party dress, full skirted with a ruched overskirt of chiffon rosettes. He'd included a pair of long black satin gloves. 

“And you're wearin' a _monkey suit_. Wanna tell me what that's about? We goin' somewhere?”

“There's a party tonight,” Steve said. “Toni's having a party. I thought you'd want to come with me. As uh, my date.”

Bucky smiled, almost like her old self. 

“Okay, and you can help me zip up the back.”

Bucky's eyes almost popped out of her head when their driver pulled up outside the venue that Tony had rented out for the evening, The Prince George Ballroom. 

“No fucking way!” she gasped. 

“We thought about The Edison, but then we found out that all the profits here go to charity. Wait, there's one more thing before we go in.” He retrieved a box from the car's mini fridge. It held a corsage of white orchids. He took Bucky's left wrist, and carefully tied the ribbon around it. Bucky let out a soft gasp, her pupils dilated briefly. Steve felt the same, his heart beat faster, without thinking about it he had symbolically reminded her that she was his. 

“What's this for?” Bucky asked.

“It's just tradition,” Steve said. Stark Industries employees, select celebrities, and other Powered People strolled past, ate at small tables strewn throughout the room and mingled on the dance floor, all wearing evening wear designed to tastefully reference different decades of teenage fashion. The outfits had a tendency to correspond to the age of the guest. Toni was wearing a short black shift style dress with a large white bow on the off the shoulder collar, and she was playing Master of Ceremonies as they walked in. 

“Ladies and gentlemen and non binary folks and aliens, welcome to the first annual or maybe only I don't know yet AVENGER'S PROM! For anyone who didn't have a good time at their own, never got to go because life got in the way, or comes from a place where they don't have proms, this is all for you. Don't forget to check out the High School Retrospective in the Gallery. Have fun and remember all proceeds from tonight go to help the homeless of New York!”

There were vintage school banners hanging from the walls, advertising local sports teams, awards and graduations. Out in the gallery, Steve knew because he'd been involved in creating the exhibit, there were tables and wall displays full of old yearbooks, black and white class photos, newspaper articles carefully framed, and other memorabilia in a multimedia display. 

“ ** _What_**?” Bucky said. 

“You never got one,” Steve explained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is [Toni's 90s dress](https://www.etsy.com/listing/97702670/famous-90s-black-and-white-bow-prom)  
> [A few of the options I considered for Bucky's dress](http://princessbenjamin.tumblr.com/post/120185154381/theres-what-i-figure-steve-would-choose-but)  
> [The Venue](http://www.princegeorgeballroom.org/aboutpgbmomento/)
> 
> There will be two chapters this week, and chapter five will e the final one. I actually mean it this time, because I've got two other projects with rapidly approaching deadlines.


	5. Chapter 5

“Such a great party, Toni,” Bucky trilled, dragging Steve over to her by the hand and giving her a playful arm punch. 

“This was mostly Parker's project,” Toni said. “I mean, I let him help. Him and all the rugrats who've seen the inside of a high school in the last five years. Or ever saw a real prom outside a John Hughes movie. Steve did the retrospective in the Gallery.” 

“You never went to the prom?” Bucky asked. It had surprised Steve too, Toni was such an infamous party animal, he'd assumed she was either prom queen or spiking the punch and smoking joints in the bathroom...before being voted prom queen. 

“I never actually got to go,”Toni admitted. “I graduated high school early, I was at MIT by the time I would've been going to prom.”

“You know I didn't,” Nate said with a shrug. “You don't get proms when... Plus, even if I had a normal life, we didn't have proms in Russia.”

“I knew no girl would say yes, so I didn't ask,” Steve said. 

“I woulda gone with you,” Bucky assured him.

“Weren't you all, twelve, at the time?” Toni asked. 

“That's okay,” Steve said. “I _looked_ twelve. And there wouldn't have been any trouble, cake and punch and home to your dad by ten. I didn't know what to do with a girl when I was seventeen.”

“But you did by the time I came along,” Bucky laughed. She touched his arm, warm and flirtatious. He smiled down at her, always thrilled by her touch, grateful that she _had_ been touching him more lately. 

“The Army in wartime is a crash course in everything you can't tell your mother about,” Steve said. “In my head I was still the same skinny little guy who had to look up at his dates. Once I stopped thinking of Bucky as a kid, I didn't know why a girl like her would even look at me when she coulda had anyone.” 

“Anyone is overrated, trust me,” Bucky said. 

Clint slid toward them across the floor, pulling an embarrassed Bryce along. 

“Awesome idea,” Clint said. “Carnies don't get proms, and Bryce told me she didn't go to hers.” Bryce wore a deep green velvet dress, tight, knee length and off the shoulder like Toni's. 

“Where's your big bow?” Toni asked. 

“Well, I didn't think I'd need a weapon-” Clint started to say before Toni interrupted. 

“No, Bryce. I thought we agreed, we were going to wear dresses with big bows on them,”Toni said. “You're not into the early 90s spirit at all, are you?”

“N-no, not normally,” Bryce stammered. 

“Toni, maybe she's happy with an understated look,” Nate said. “Not everyone wants to constantly scream Look at Me!”

“Wait, so none of the Avengers have ever been to a prom?” Bucky asked. “I thought this was something everyone had done except me. Guess I don't feel so left out now.”

“We've all lead sad, strange lives,” Clint said.

“Then we all deserve to dance, come on!” Bucky bounced off toward the dancefloor, pausing with that old unexpectedly vulnerable smile, as if to ask Steve if he wanted to join her. 

“You go ahead, I need a minute. But you owe me all the slow dances!” 

When Bucky was gone, Toni kicked Steve in the shins. 

“Ow!”

“Dance with her, idiot!”

“I will! I just, I haven't danced in a long time and I-I was never good at it,” Steve pleaded. 

“Please, if she ever liked having sex with you, then you're a good enough dancer for her, cause it's all pretty much related. With the right guy, dancing is foreplay. You wanna get laid tonight, right?”

“Um, well, yeah,” Steve admitted. Toni pushed him onto the dancefloor as a fast, loud song with a Latin rhythm started up. 

“So here's what you're gonna do,” Toni raised her voice over the music as she wiggled her curvy body around him. “You're gonna dance wild and crazy to Ricky Martin, and whoever comes on next, so you lose your nerves and then you're gonna go seduce your girlfriend!” 

It worked, once Steve loosened up and forgot his nerves, he turned out to be a better dancer than he remembered being, despite the new, modern concept of 'dancing' which was mostly just wildly gyrating in place or occasionally attempting some formal steps that no one was really on the same page about or had much education in. Unless they were Bucky and Nate, who moved together during a Nicki Minaj song as if they'd been practicing, as if they were trained professionals (which they were, in a sense). The lyrics were explicit at points, and their dancing could have set off the smoke detectors. Steve wasn't a jealous man, he tried not to be, and being seductive was just a part of a spy's toolkit, and he couldn't demand that a pair of former lovers stop having chemistry. Or expressing their feelings so emphatically with their hips. He met Bucky's eyes, they burned with a desire that went straight to his cock, but it couldn't possibly be for him. Bucky loved him, but she didn't _want him_ , not like that. Not anymore. That was her right, she'd been through a lot. The Bucky Barnes he'd known before would not have appreciated any public displays of possessive macho crap no matter what they'd agreed to in private. And they hadn't made any agreements this time. Still, did she have to blatantly rub herself all over her ex like that? 

After her most recent failed attempt to initiate sex, that night when she'd come to him while he was watching tv, Bucky was starting to fear she'd pushed him too far away. But what could she do? Tell the bravest, toughest, most _good_ guy she'd ever known, that she was terrified of what he thought of her now? Or, after everything that had been done to her by others, what he could do to her if she let him? Because she could so easily let him. 

During a slower, slinky Nick Jonas song, Bucky grinded between Toni and Nate, flushed, remembering how often she'd begun to touch herself lately, how good it was relearning how to do that, and how often Steve was the star of her fantasies. She'd lie there and remember skirts rucked up, or combat trousers pushed down, or her costume half off and her own high pitched whimpering as he fucked her hard and all she could do was hold on, or soft and slow and gentle like she was made out of china, which she always started out pretending not to enjoy but actually loved. She just couldn't- _bridge that final gap_ and couldn't let go and find that relief with someone else. But he looked kinda angry that she was dancing so provocatively with other people.

Steve found her by the bar later in the evening while she was struggling to extract cash for her drink from her tiny clutch purse. He reached out to help her. 

“I can do it,” Bucky snapped nervously. “Damn...tiny...useless...girl purses...no pockets...UGH.” 

“Sorry! How many drinks have you had?” 

“Only three,” Bucky insisted. “It's the purse plus the metal fingers. Got it! What's your problem anyway?” 

“What's my problem? Bucky, I wish you wouldn't dance like that with other people.”

“Well, I _asked_ you to dance with me and you didn't,” Bucky said.

“I'm sorry, I got nervous. You're so good at it, and you know all the new moves. I don't. I never meant to hurt your feelings. This night-this night isn't going as well as I planned but let me turn it around for you, okay?” 

Bucky smiled. 

“Okay, Steve.”

Toni's voice came on over the sound system. 

“Alright, everyone, we're at that point in the evening when it's traditional to give out all the class awards, so if everyone could just, like, shut up for a minute. Thank you! Earlier this week you all received emails about a poll for Prom King and Queen. You were asked to send in the names of two candidates who you believe best exemplify the spirit of our community, and let's not lie to ourselves, who you also think are the hottest members of our community. So let's see who you picked!” Toni held up two envelopes dramatically. 

“And your vote for Prom King, by an overwhelming percentage is...” Toni ripped the envelope open. “Steven G. Rogers, come on up and get your crown!” 

Bucky giggled, watching Steve pretend to be embarrassed as their friends pushed him toward the stage, and Kate Bishop placed a flower crown on his head. Toni continued talking after the cheering died down. 

“And the winner of the First Annual (Maybe) Avenger's Prom, Prom Queen Contest as chosen by you, the voters, is....Jemma Buchanan Barnes!”

“ _What?_ ” Bucky said. It had barely registered before Thor was scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the stage. What the-what the fuck? 

“Do not look so astounded, Little Warrior!” he boomed. “You are most beloved by this assembly!” He planted her in front of the microphone. Kate handed her a bouquet of pink and white roses, Toni kissed her on the cheek as _Steve_ , smiling shyly and hopefully, carefully crowned her with flowers. She stood looking out at a sea of happy, expectant faces, realizing for the first time, it was really real, she had _friends_ , and she was _loved_ and _wanted_. Loved like a friend, loved like family, loved like a hero, like the popular girl in school despite her past, her brain damage and her dumb robot arm, loved by a wonderful man who had _set all of this up just to help her feel special_. 

“Now, if you'll please make room, our Prom King and Queen need to lead their first dance together.”

Bucky grinned, and pulled Steve out to the dance floor. Their footwork wasn't fancy, they mostly swayed gently together to a 90s ballad, Steve's strong arms tight around her while she hid her watery eyes in his chest. 

“I love you, Soldier,” Steve whispered. 

“I know that now,” Bucky sniffled. She didn't want to hold anything back from him anymore, she didn't want to live the rest of her life without this. He still had her heart, but maybe now she could give him her body again, the way they used to be, and not keep defining herself by the things that had been done to her. She smiled, watching her friends dance- Toni swaying with Pepper, Bryce and Nate, Thor and Jane, Wade Wilson twirling an imaginary partner, and felt truly happy for the first time in years. 

What came next was surprisingly bouncy. The song was unfamiliar, but the rhythm wasn't. It was swing. Some modern band playing their own composition, but it was _swing_. 

_Who's that whispering in the trees?  
It's two sailors and they're on leave_

Steve actually remembered the starting positions, and it was like the whole room had been transferred back to a USO dance in 1943. She trusted him enough to let him lead, going where he took her even if she had to subtly nudge him there. 

_hats and chains and swingin' hands_  
_Who's your daddy?  
Yes I am_

His footwork and technique weren't that great but they didn't need to be. He put most of his effort into showing her off. The best thing about swing dancing with Steve, the _best thing_ was that even with the extra muscle Bucky had now that she didn't have before, and the extra weight of the Weapon, he could still lift her, and spin her, and toss her through the air like she weighed nothing. Their instincts were so in sync she knew she could let go and fly like an acrobat and he would always be there at exactly the second she needed to be caught. She laughed with abandon as the crowd cheered them on. 

After the song ended, and Toni and Pepper started trying to lead everyone in drunken choreography to Paradise By the Dashboard Light, Bucky excused her sweaty self to the ladies' room, and then to get ready to put a new plan in motion. 

Nate was willing to come back to Tower with her and help, but Steve looked ready to cry when he saw them sneaking out together. Bucky composed a text message for him in the cab. 

“Now, you're sure Steve isn't going to beat me up?” Nate asked, tying the final bow to the headboard. 

“I explained it all in the email,” Bucky said. She wriggled experimentally. “I'm all set. You better get out of here before he runs into you though.”

“Good luck, Jemma.”

Either Steve was too fast or Nate wasn't fast enough. She heard a muttered, unhappy exchange in the hall, then one set of male feet moving away, and another much heavier pair approaching. Bucky shivered as the doorknob clicked, and she shifted her thighs together,already wet with anticipation, the fear only making it better. She really hoped Steve had received her email note. 

_Dear Steve,_

_First don't be mad at Nate, I couldn't get into this rig without his help, that's all. I don't wanna wait anymore. I love you, I want to be together like we used to be. I want to do it all, the same way we always did._

Steve entered, looming over her, his eyes widened and his hard expression softened as he took in the low lights, the dove gray silk sheets with scattered fresh rose petals. And Bucky, laying on the bed in her flower crown, with her arms stretched above her head, secured together with the ribbons from the orchid corsage. The top of her dress was pulled down to expose her breasts. 

_But I hope you understand I'm not ready to play with pain yet. That's my only rule._

“Do you like it?” Bucky bit her lip. 

“Bucky...” Steve breathed.

He undressed slowly, until he wore nothing but his white shirt, unbuttoned. Steve had begun to harden when he saw her tableau, he stroked himself languidly to full erection, gazing into her eyes, besotted, before he approached the bed and climbed on. Bucky trembled. Steve reached under her dress, slowly rolling down her nylons and skimpy black silk panties, his eyes going dark with heat as he did. He knelt over her, and bent down to kiss her breasts and nipples. Bucky moaned, the sensation of his touch traveled in a direct line to her pussy, she lifted her breasts toward his mouth in encouragement. He concentrated on them until she was aching and wet, whimpering his name. Steve slid his big hands down her body, brushing over her stomach, slipping between her folds to open her before he pressed in. He was just as big as ever, but her body had missed the feel of him filling her up. Bucky let out another moan, and a sigh, wrapping her thighs around his waist before Steve began to gently rock into her. 

“Just let go,” Steve murmured. “Just let go for me.” 

Bucky obeyed joyfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Bryce (Bruce)'s prom dress](https://www.etsy.com/transaction/28565214%20%20%20)  
>  The Nicki Minaj song is either ["Bang Bang" ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDdjwpPM3Y)or ["Hey Mama".](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO59tfQ2TbA)  
> The original title for the earliest attempt at this fic was "you need a bad girl to blow your mind".  
> [Nick Jonas, Chains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8UX2bbCHJw)  
> [the song Steve and Bucky slow dance to](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdOz1EihRV4)  
> [the swing music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IqH3uliwJY)  
> [Paradise By the Dashboard Light](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C11MzbEcHlw)  
> And the song that inspired the whole prom idea  
> [Shut Up and Dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCLY0Rlx6Q)


End file.
